I wrote this post a while ago about us picking up money on the street (read here) I had used that opportunity to educate my kids about God's promises and how he always deliver them. This afternoon, on our way back from the park, my son picked a gold coin at the carpark. He was thrilled and I was happy and felt blessed by the grace of God, once more. After my daughter had picked 30cents under the bridge, I told her to increase the amount and ask God to bless her with a dollar.

A few times when I sent her to school , she shared that she was still waiting for God to deliver but did not receive it. She wanted it to be this day or that day. So again, I shared with her my experiences , recalling this great bible verse - “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Mark 13.32God's way is higher than our way and he decides today is the day for the gold coin to be revealed. She was a little disappointed as it was not her who found the money but her brother. I told her we are a family and the money still stay in the family. Maybe, she is too young to understand or I need further wisdom from God to educate myself and her later. Why did God allow the brother to find it and not her, I too pondered on this question?

If she attach deeper meaning to owning the gold coin and she truly wants it, I am sure God will manifest it for her one day. That I have no doubts at all. From another perspective, sometimes, the dreams and goals we want are achieved through close friends that we know. We wondered why God answered his or her prayers but not ours. We felt unhappy, blaming God for being unfair and loving the other more than us.

I do not see it this way. Could God be sending a signal to us ,reminding us that if this goal is still important to us? Do we really, really want it so badly? Having it manifest through someone we know and seeing his or her excitement and joy of possessing it, does it invoke some feelings within us?

Upon reflection, I still have many unfulfilled goals that I keep on praying to God for. I too see it , read about it and sometimes wonder why does he or she have this same goal of mine and are already enjoying the fruits of it while I am still yearning for it, waiting patiently/impatiently for it?

Lord, help me to stay in your path and listen to your words only. Block out the noises that infiltrate my mind, remove these excesses that attempts to separate you and me, destroy the evil that wants me to follow his way and not yours. Give me courage to fight the battle of faith, solidify my stance in faith foundation, not wavering but rock solid. Cast out the false prophets that disguise as you to help me in achieving these dreams. Reveal the truth to me that I not be cheated, conned or swayed by them, heading to the wrong path but hold me firmly in your arms that I stay close to you, lean on you and absorbing all the goodness of you. Overflow my cup that I have so much to share with my loved ones, protect them and bring forth your message to them and may they never be tempted in any other ways.

Than you Father for your continuous blessing. Your grace is sufficient for me.

I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. Isaiah 48.3​I am back from my 4km run a moment ago and this verse rang in my mind. I had to write it down as I think it serves to remind me something important. I foretold or I declare the former things long ago (ie. what I want to quit - any bad habits, smoking, lack of money ,lack of health, relationship,etc) my mouth announced them - as in saying it aloud and I made them known (in my case it was the calendar to improve my chin ups for my physical goal), then suddenly I acted, - yes it was a spur of moment (that thought came to me while I saw my son cancelling the dates on the calendar he has) and they (what you think cannot be done, in my case the chin ups) came to pass.

Like this picture above, many of us tend to be stranded in between with one leg stepping on each side ,the past pulling us back and the future pulling us away. We felt uneasy, uncomfortable, wanted to change, to act but somehow there is resistance, temptation to fall back,isn't it ?

It is as I said in my previous post (read here), change can seems like a tall order, an insurmountable mountain for some of us when we want to make a change/progress.

This 2nd picture describe perfectly the situation that many of us are in when we seek to make changes in our lives, be in financial (more wealth), relationship or pursuing health. There is the familiar staircase or path that we need to step onto it, the steps by steps to reach the door where the heaven lies beyond. It wasn' the first step that is the hardest for some of us but maybe the 6th or 9th steps that we could not persevere and fail to see the door that makes us give up, reluctantly. And the cycle repeats after sometime.

Of course, there is the frustration, the self belittle part on why he, she can do it and why not me, putting the blame on external circumstances - if only I knew that person who can connect me, if only I have more capital, if only ...........

Somehow, I feel we had all been shortchanged by the system out there (created by humans for humans) and naively believe we just have to keep on searching the right method, system ,etc to reach our goals.

I wrote an article to the Press some 2 years back , (read here) that briefly describe how we can attain our goals by reversing the ways,methods we were all taught to do. It is fairly simple but require a lot of practice and focus (I am still learning and practising it) to achieve what you want in life.

Motivation is often what we cite as lacking to pursue our goals. So, we spent time and money to others to motivate us, to get us pump up and it works , for a while. Then the effects drop and we slowly return to where we are. Feeling rejected and frustrated, we go out in search for the next workshop, course that promise to get us what we want.

Please do not get me wrong. These workshops are good and helpful IF and only IF you are clear what you want in life and need a little push , guidance, perhaps a peer group to stay committed and motivate one another. Or else, if money is a constraint, try this method I recommend, it works for me on many occasions and I am working on applying it into other areas of my life.

By standing at the step 1 and looking at the door, whether in our mind or putting it on paper is utilising our mind to think of what we want , the future. When we are thinking of something, there is a gap as it is shown on the picture above, step 1 to the door is separated by the many steps in between. These in-between steps act as obstacles , psychological ones that prevent you from coming closer to the door. That is its purpose - To stop you even if it is step 99 before the door. If they succeed, you fail. And the majority fail as we hear stories and stories of entrepreneurs and common people whining why they are in where they are today.

If we could for a moment suspend ourselves , detach ourselves from our emotions of who we are and float into the mid air and allow ourselves to drift or fly gently over these steps and go through the door, wouldn't that be nice? It feels like a dream, isn't it? Can of unreal , airy fairy ? Now that you are inside and the door is behind you, what do you see? Was that the dream car that you been waiting? Go on, open the door, touch it , smell the leather and feel the texture on your hand. Grab the steering wheel and feel the power you have on this lean machine, the dream car that you always wanted.

Or the girl you always wanted to meet/date. Now you are at the park awaiting for her arrival and she is walking towards you. How do you feel? Nervous, excited, mixed emotions? What would you say to her? Would you hold her hands? How's the weather like for that day? Can you look up the sky and see it ?

By allowing us to immerse in this future and acting as if we are in it and pouring our feelings into it, the dream can feel like a reality and the more we enjoy the moments , the more we want from it. The challenge is to stay in it , in the scene. Think of it like shooting a Hollywood movie, it is the same. In real life , you are not the role you are acting in this movie, you know you are acting. Or do you? There are so many cases of actors and actresses that got themselves so deep and engrossed in the roles that they too act out the same when they are out of it.

In short, our own goals are like a movie and we are the actors and actresses within. We are also the director and producer and we have the right to change the scene - from a dull gloomy rainy day to a nice warm and lovely summer holiday at the beach. We can add vibrant colours, make the casts smile the way you want it , say the nice things to each other to be happy ,etc. WE ARE IN FULL CONTROL if we know the power that lies within us.

Like Spiderman, greater ability comes with greater responsibilities, we may know we have the power but some of us choose to conceal it and lead a normal life while others thrive and make good use of it for the betterment of their lives and benefit of the society.

Ah.....are we going to talk about change again? Yes, we are, haha. In the words of Bob Proctor, a favourite author of mine, he said; we are either progressing or stagnant in life. So if the word; change is too BIG or daunting as if you need a complete makeover, consider replacing it with progress instead. After all, we had said that hundreds and thousands of times when we are in school. "We the citizens of Singapore...........so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation." Sounds familiar?

Since I had my shoulder injury years back, I had fallen drastically on my physical strength training for fear of aggravating the pain. It was, each time I try to exert the muscles around it and it is frustrating that I can't do much and felt helpless.....I had many sleepless night as rotating the arm would hurt so bad that it wakes me up. (maybe that explains the dark eye circle, haha)Nearly giving up, I was feeling depressed and decided to turn to God for help. (Forgive me for not seeking YOU first, LORD) I asked him to release the pain and let me regain my strength and confidence once more. Nothing miraculous happen over the weeks, the pain still exist, the sleep was horrible and the days were muddled through...........

Then, one day my daughter wanted me to paint with her. Honestly, I was reluctant as I dislike drawing when I was young. But it was something that I had promised her and she was looking forward to it. So I said OK and this was what I painted. It came to me instantly, as if God knew that is what I need now!

Shortly, thereafter, I got my son to draw up this calendar for me. See attached drawing. The 2nd drawing is an ordinary 2 months time line that I set for myself to get started with my training again. It was not helpful when I kept thinking how strong I was in the past when I can hit the gym to lift the weights and so on and so forth. I had to start from scratch, I know and the sooner the better.

I started on 16 Aug 2016 where you could see a number, 6 was written on it. That was the number of chin-ups I could do. On some days, I added in my own run which I had been doing regularly, 3 - 5km run depending on time availability. 2 weeks later, I am still at 7 chin-ups and I was feeling a little frustrated how slow the progress had been. Then end of the month, 31 Aug 2016, I hit 8. That was a marked improvement for me.

I noticed once a new number register in my mind, it becomes the minimum I had to do and 7 or 6 became the past as I looked back at this calendar. Of course, the words of God, written by my son is a constant motivation. Matthews 19.26 - Nothing is impossible for God and Mark 9.23 - Nothing is impossible to Him who believes.

Last Sunday, 10 Sept 2016, I breakthrough with 9 chin ups and now 8 , 7 and 6 are behind - the past and no longer a limitation that I used to had and fear of reaching. My action and achievement by way of my records are evidence that it is possible and do-able.

Guess what, the next number will be ?Yeah, a full 10 and that would be another milestone that I love to hit it. The problem I realised that we get ourselves trapped are our very own thoughts. We not only compare with others but also our very own past performance, assuming if we had done it before ,then now should be easy and achievable. Yes and No depending on the context.

The 10,000 hours training that each person put behind his interest, be it a physical goal or financial one is crucial. This two month tracking progress may seem slow and way too easy for some but it fits my current lifestyle and I like the progress, slow and steady without hurting my shoulders too much.

God has a wonderful way of giving us what we want. He arranged for my daughter to get me to draw which I had not done in decades, less to mention holding a paint brush. As I saw her happily painting away, I thought what should I paint and my gut feeling told me this word. And then the next thing was this calendar I get my son to do for me. He loves to cross out each day of the month on the hard calendars we had in the house. And an idea just came to me, model the same thing on a piece of paper and each time I finished a physical task, I would cross it off.

Also, each night I shared my happy moments with him, how happy Daddy is by achieving this baby step one day at a time. As a father, I think it is more important to walk the talk than to give him theories on how to be resilient in the midst of adversity.

Friends, if you are going through some challenges right now, do as I had done. Baby steps, giant leaps one day at a time. Do not underestimate the power of accumulation but it has still to start from day one. Make today your day one and soon you will be excited to share your progress with your family member and others as well.

To expect others to come forth and help us or the external situation to first improve without making a radical shift in our attitude is the works of an insane person who unconsciously repeat the same steps but expecting a different result.

Acts 3.19 - Repent so that your sins can be wiped away..................

This is also one of my favourite verse but I too had to apply in my own life, experiencing the mighty power of God so that my testimonial are not hearsay but truly experienced.

Repent in the dictionary has too many negative connotations from feeling remorseful to being regretful of one's act. Wouldn't that act itself (feeling remorseful) magnify the problems you had on hand; i.e. making it bigger and worse than before?

According to the Strong Concordance, the word; repent means change of mind, change the inner man (accept the will of God). So simply, God say I am here so that you can have abundance and prosperity..... John 10.10. Now, we know God's words cannot be revoked, he kept his promises and thus it is up to us to change our mind, to shift our paradigm from looking at the external situation (shoulder pain) and forgotten the teachings of God. And that is to have faith and believe in his words. Now faith is the assurance of things hope for, evidence of things not seen.

In our mortal world, we were "educated" or brainwashed to only accept what we can see (visual sense) as facts before we can believe something. For example, if you say you are financially rich, then you jolly well dress up, live in a big house or drive a flashy car. We all "learn" to judge by what we see. But God see our hearts and not by what we have - our circumstances. We find it difficult to believe in something unless we can see it . Money, house, car are what we can see , then our brain begin to believe.

God say to do the reverse, first to believe than you will see. John 11.40 - Did I not tell you if you believe, you would see the Glory of God? And Matthew 21.22 - If you believe, you will receive whatever you request for in prayer.

Meditate on these words (a strong reminder for myself as well). It is the reverse of what the mortal world is teaching out there - out of sight, out of mind but rather God's way - out of mind, out of sight.